It is often desirable to obtain information about a subterranean formation in the Earth surrounding a well. The information may be used, for example, to target areas within the subterranean formation most likely to produce oil and/or gas, thereby improving well production and reducing operating costs. One way to obtain information about the formation in the earth surrounding a well is to use a source to generate seismic waves that pass through the geologic formations adjacent to the wellbore, and a receiver that receives at least a portion of the seismic energy.
Transmission factors evidenced by the amount of time it takes the signal to travel from the source to the receiver, and/or the amplitude or phase of the received signal compared to that of the transmitted signal, are generally indicative of formations surrounding the wellbore. These investigatory techniques are generally called “seismic” techniques.
In some approaches, the seismic waves are generated by a seismic generation device inserted in the wellbore. The seismic generation device is driven by an electrical source, perhaps located on the surface. Given the length of the wellbore, the user of the seismic generation device may not know the exact orientation of the seismic generation device within the wellbore, which can increase the computational load of deriving details of the subterranean formation at the receiver.